AIBU - With this new data on obesity and the NHS is it time to have some honest and difficult conversations?

[IAmADancer]

New data from a ‘landmark study’ has show that obesity costs the NHS around 14billion a year and that 2 out of 3 adults are obese.

I know this is a difficult subject but the numbers are pretty clear. With the cost of living crisis and a general requirement for both parents to work now to support themselves how do we support people to make the right choices and tackle a growing problem?

Im really interested to hear people’s opinions on what we can do with such stark figures laid bare.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/05/17/cost-of-obesity-twice-those-who-are-healthy-nhs/

@GaiaSophia
Great post! I agree 100%
Eating fat does not make you fat!

I am slim but I have always felt permanently hungry and snacked a lot. I was recently advised for my menopause symptoms, including increased blood pressure despite doing a fair bit of exercise, to stop snacking as it is bad for blood sugar and insulin resistance. Also to cut right back on sugar and only ever eat it, including fruit, after having a meal, never on an empty stomach and to try to eat protein with every meal. To stop having porridge or muesli with fruit for breakfast (as both can spike blood sugar) and have a savoury breakfast with protein like eggs or sardines on toast with salad or vegetables.

What has been amazing is that in just a few weeks of this I no longer feel hungry between meals or much desire to snack - I seriously used to want to eat all the time and because I am slim I didn't see the harm in grazing throughout the day, especially as it was often on what I thought of as healthy stuff - oat cakes, granola, fruit, nuts. Now I realise that was spiking my blood sugar and then when it dropped I was hungry again.

Glucose goddess on instagram has good tips and science on this. I think this type of diet can help weight loss not least because it reduces the desire to eat all the time, and it definitely helps type 2 diabetes. I would rather not be on this restricted diet as I love cakes, biscuits and eating in general so it has been hard to get my head around but my wellbeing is more important and the hunger cravings have definitely reduced, pretty much gone which I find incredible.

Oh hoo-fucking-ray the diet gurus are here...

Unless you are an actual Dietitian give it a rest. Your genes aren't anyone else's genes, your life isn't anyone else's life, your experiences aren't anyone else's experiences. Just because you succeed on some paleo/intermittent fasting mashup, that doesn't mean that it's the answer for everyone.

Also, look up weight cycling.

"Oh fuck off!! 😂 Some of us have self control and only eat these things as a treat, in moderation. Why should we be punished?"

So you could buy chocolate biscuits made with normal natural ingredients yet it's a punishment to stop making those biscuits with artificial ingredients, preservatives and emulsifiers? Ok.

@hamstersarse 'for example, that to get the cheapest tax rate your BMI must be in the healthy range.'

Ahhh yes because that will help people loose weight won't it. Those of us who already struggle on time to exercise, home cook food etc make the financial burden worse so they have to work more thus giving less opportunity to make a change.

Fantastic thinking

If I have porridge for breakfast I don't get hungry until lunch. If ibhave toast I'm starving by 10.30

This is the sum total of my knowledge

The thing I find so sad is seeing so many more obese children about now than there used to be - I think the problem is going to get much worse. People seem to encourage over-eating, especially in boys - you hear people telling "Alfie" or whatever what a good boy he is for having a hearty appetite whilst he's stuffing his face with potato.
Agreed, and combine that with the endless snacking culture (not talking about people who divide up their daily calories into specific meals/snacks here Eg. Mid morning they have a banana) and that also affects children.

They learn by watching us. If they see their parents eating continuously then that's what they'll want to do.

The number of drive-thru coffee shops and fast food outlets in our area has increased in the last couple of years. There's always queues and a few months later another one is opening. There's a culture of endless eating/drinking and impulsively grazing.

I was thinking about this just last night after listening to some of the Feel More alive Better Podcasts. This has to be a culture problem. Both parents having to work as many hours as they can, convenience foods being almost essential in order to squeeze in feeding the family after work, pick up etc, and lack of time. Also I live in Scotland and the weather is not great for a huge chunk of the year yet there are very limited indoor activity and sporting options (plenty of eating and shopping to be done) and even less for those who can’t afford £20 odd to hire an indoor tennis court.

Same here. I am overweight. Injured knee. I have been waiting 9 months for an MRI possibly because I am older and fatter. But the drugs they have given me are known to cause weight gain and high cholesterol. ( which I have now but did not before) My obesity cost the nhs nothing before I injured my knee. But being fobbed off with drugs is easier than sorting proper treatment.

What would this change look like?

Convience foods are not essential for 2 parents working and bringing up a family

Even now many people manage to work raise and family abs eat healthy

Because that's their priority

I don't really disagree, but at the same time, I don't think it is just as simple as 'Eat real food. That's all you need to do' for a lot of people. I was on the UPF thread the other day and realised that the only UPF I eat with any regularity is shop bought bread. And that's been true for at least the last 25 years. I have spent all of my DDs' lifetime so far making labour intensive (mostly vegetarian) food from scratch. We've rarely had takeaways or ready meals in that time, breakfast is stuff like eggs or porridge, even deserts have been made from scratch. They've never been fed chicken nuggets, chips, coke, sugary cereals etc. Drinks with meals were pretty much always water, maybe fresh juice but never sugary carbonated drinks. And they've both grown up knowing how to cook from scratch and have done so since before their teens - which is serving them very well now they're both at Uni and has hopefully set them up for a healthy future food and drink choice wise. However, I was a SAHM, I was lucky enough to be able to choose to do that. And I'm under absolutely no illusions that there is no way on earth I would have had time for the meal planning, shopping, prepping, cooking, cleaning up and general mental load that goes along with that, had I been having to work outside of the home. So many people can only afford to live now if there are two incomes, or if they're a single parent working full time, down time probably doesn't allow for it. As other PPs have said, our whole society set up now relies on things like quick easy fast food, and less time for exercise (even just walking somewhere) and is not going to be easy to unpick that even if everyone is on board.

I can't eat porridge I would vomit it straight back up. It's one of the foods I can't stomach the texture of (see also jelly, mushrooms, and many many more)

Change would look like

Much stricter regulations around food -

huge taxes on all UPF foods - so a healthy loaf would be less than the standard sliced white loaf - say over £4 rather than 75p

Parents fined if their children are overweight, and made to attend courses which help them cook , help them say no to their children , which are funded by the fines

completely agree with everything @Mangotime has said on this thread.

www.bariatricnews.net/post/obesity-the-big-truth-dispelling-misconceptions-and-myths-about-obesity

Yeah, that’s what I said…

Dont stress, I was being lighthearted.

Copied from my post on page 5…

• Ultra-processed food needs to be banned for children and heavily taxed for adults (other countries have already done this).
• Healthy food needs to be made cheaper and more readily available.
• People need the time to be able to cook healthy food from scratch. This is so difficult in families where both parents have to work full time due to the cost of living.
• Children need to be encouraged to be more active - subsidised sports clubs and swimming lessons, better provision of sports, girls-only sports provision
• as above for adults

@GaiaSophia excellent post!

I’ve mostly done this for years, it’s only now that I’m on metformin that I’m actually losing weight.

You’re right that the mainstream message is that low carb high fat is dangerous, and many drs still push low fat low calorie nonsense.

I believe Sweden changed their health services diet advice to keto/low carb?

My diabetes nurse (she travels round several local practices) is very pro low carb, but has to offer standard NHS advice as well or she risks being in trouble. She has said that most new diabetics will reject low carb as dangerous and daddy, and try the NHS approach and struggle, and often end up with badly managed diabetes. However those who follow a low carb diet tend to find it easier to maintain, and tend to reverse their diabetes.

Parents fined if their children are overweight, and made to attend courses which help them cook , help them say no to their children , which are funded by the fines

How are you going to do this? How will the overweight ness of the children be assessed?

Someone upthread mentioned "low fat spreads" - is that like margarine?

(Sorry for being dim!)

Presumably with a full work up including genomic analysis for every single individual......

@dumple this thread isn't specifically criticising you and your choices! 😊

Gaiasophia, I don't completely agree about the exercise not being a factor, one of the reasons I exercise is so I can eat what I want

I'm fat and disabled.

My kids aren't and weren't.

One of mine was obese age 17. According to BMI Except they were a competitive sportsperson.